NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Halvonik 717-787-1381
Audit Text

Auditor General Jack Wagner Finds Weaknesses In Oversight of Older Adult Daily Living Centers

HARRISBURG, (Oct. 1, 2009) – Auditor General Jack Wagner said today that a special performance audit, released today, found licensing deficiencies in the Department of Aging’s administration of the Older Adult Daily Living Center Program.

Auditors found the backdating of a license, untimely inspections, facilities operating without a license, and licenses exceeding the 12-month legally mandated licensing period. Wagner offered nine recommendations to improve the Older Adult Daily Living Center Program, and praised the Department of Aging for its cooperation in completing the audit.

“The Department of Aging cooperated fully with our auditors throughout the audit period, which demonstrated senior management’s operational transparency as well as its commitment to consumer complaints,” Wagner said.

The Department of Aging advocates for the interests of older Pennsylvanians at all levels of government and in the community at large. It is responsible for the oversight of 52 Area Agencies on Aging that serve all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, including 600 full- and part-time senior community centers. The department received $223 million from the Pennsylvania Lottery to support these agencies and senior centers during the 2007-08 fiscal year.

The Department of Aging collaborates with local Area Agencies on Aging to administer the Older Adult Daily Living Center program, which helps provide personal care and other services to Pennsylvanians aged 60 or older. As part of administering the program the Department of Aging is required to inspect each older adult daily living center at least once every 12 months and then license the center for up to 12 months. The inspection encompasses the safety of the center, including fire safety, sanitation, staff-to-client ratios, and storage/administration of medications. There were 243 older adult daily living centers in the commonwealth as of Dec. 31, 2007.

Wagner’s audit, which covered the period July 1, 2002 through Dec. 31, 2007, including follow-up procedures performed and concluded as of June 25, 2009, examined 36 centers to determine if the Department of Aging had properly inspected and licensed these centers in accordance with state law.

Auditors found deficiencies for older adult daily living centers including the backdating of a license; 81 inspections at 35 of the 36 centers not completed within the required 12-month period; 24 centers operated at one point without a license; and 14 licenses exceeded the 12-month legally mandated licensing period. In addition, the Department of Aging did not require signatures to acknowledge participants’ attendance at the centers and it did not monitor program waiting lists at the county agencies.

Wagner recommended that the Department of Aging:

• Implement procedures to prevent the backdating of license effective dates.
  
• Ensure that licenses do not have effective dates greater than a 12-month period as required by law.
  
• Require county agencies to submit completed monitoring reports to the department to ensure that county agencies perform mandatory annual on-site monitoring.
  
• Require the centers to use participants’ or their representatives’ signatures as documentation to support attendance at the center, rather than completing the attendance records prior to the arrival of the expected participants for the day and then crossing off the names of those who do not arrive.

Auditor General Jack Wagner is responsible for ensuring that all state money is spent legally and properly. He is the commonwealth’s elected independent fiscal watchdog, conducting financial audits, performance audits, and special investigations. The Department of the Auditor General conducts approximately 5,000 audits per year. To learn more about the Department of the Auditor General, taxpayers are encouraged to visit the department’s website at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us.

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